A Glamorous Black Tie, Savile Club Wedding

Tiff and Ash tied the knot at London’s The Savile Club on 28th May this year after waiting an extra year to hold their wedding because of the pandemic.

The couple were inspired by the glamour of a bygone era and sought a venue that would provide the perfect opportunity for their guests to party in opulent style.

This gorgeous, classy wedding, was captured beautifully by Yorkshire based wedding photographer, Luke Bell whose imagery we truly do adore. Enjoy darlings…

The Dress

I wore a Vivienne Westwood wedding dress. I actually ended up getting the dress off Luisaviaroma after trying it on in the London Vivienne Westwood boutique. I had alterations to the dress done by Satish of Elite Alterations who was fantastic – I would recommend her to anyone needing alterations in the London area.

I absolutely loved the silk material of the dress and how it hugged my body – I felt amazing in it, bridal but also sexy! It was different to anything else I’d seen or tried on and was the only dress where I wouldn’t have wanted to get changed into something else for the evening. As I’m not a particularly emotional person, I thought that this was THE sign.

Shoes & Scent

My shoes were from ASOS, I had tried loads of different styles on but these ended up being my favourite and I felt like they looked a lot more expensive than they were. My pearl pin clips were from Etsy.

For a wedding present, Ash gifted me the Fleur D’Orange from La Labo. It’s a fresh orange blossom scent which reminds me of spring (and now of our wedding day!). I also wore a sparkly wedding bag which was Benedetta Bruzziches and I love that it’s not too bridal, meaning I can continue to wear it to all types of events now.

Veil & Accessories

I wore a cathedral length veil from JJhouse, an online store. I thought it was a bit of a risk ordering from there but it really was gorgeous for the price. I loved the drama of a really long veil as we were getting married in a huge church and my dress was slinky.

My something borrowed and something blue were my Mum’s antique aquamarine and diamond drop earrings.

Wearing them was really special as I’m not sure she’ll ever let me borrow them for another occasion! I also wore a diamond necklace which Ash had given to me on my birthday, my Mum sourced it as she owns an antique jewellery shop on Etsy.

Alice of Lucent Hair and Make up by Alice, booked through By Jodie, did mine, my five bridesmaids and my Mum’s make up. My bridesmaid Kendall did my hair as I have naturally curly hair and she’s a curl expert.

Bridesmaids

The navy bridesmaids dresses were from Ghost. I’d bought them online during Covid and had to send them to the girls’s addresses for them to try them on – luckily they all fitted and the girls looked beautiful in them.

Venue & Location

As soon as we got engaged, we knew that we wanted to get married in London. We’ve both lived in London for over seven years and grew up in commuter towns, meaning most our friends and family live here or close by. We had our ceremony at Christ Church, Spitalfields, which is down the road and in the parish of our first flat together on Commercial Street.

We then set off on classic London buses to The Savile Club in Mayfair for our reception.

Flowers

We booked Design by Nature as we loved Emily’s natural, colourful style. Emily was actually on maternity leave for our new wedding date so Cyrill Tronchet covered after being briefed in and we were so happy with the results!

We found Design by Nature Flowers through the real weddings section on Love My Dress.

Photography

We found our amazing photographer Luke Bell through the Love My Dress wedding directory.

We chose Luke Bell because we fell in love with his cinematic style of photography which really captures the feeling of the day. Most of his photos are candid, which is what we really wanted as we didn’t want to be taken out of the fun on the day for long photo sessions.

He absolutely smashed it, we’re both so happy with the photos and he was so calming, professional and just lovely to be around.

Videography

We postponed our wedding a year from 2021 to 2022. It did really make us think about what was important to us on the day, in case we did need to make changes. Because we had an extra year to save, we ended up upgrading on a few other aspects too, including getting a videographer, which we’re now so happy about. I think postponing mostly made us appreciate that the main thing we wanted was to see all of our closest friends and family together, which made it all the more special when it came round to the wedding day.

Rafal of Janko Films filmed the whole day (which we upgraded to a few weeks before the wedding) and he did such a great job. We have an amazing two hour documentary cut for when we want to relive the day and see all the conversations and parts of the day we might have missed.

Our friends and family are especially in love with the highlights video that he put together as it definitely encompasses the fun vibe and happiness of the day.

How They Met

We met as students at Loughborough University in 2012 – we lived in flats opposite each other in our halls of residence and were part of the same friendship group. After a few years of having fun on nights out, trips to Nottingham together and drinks in the Paget pub, we started seeing each other, and eventually moved into our first flat together in Spitalfields in 2016.

Ash proposed on the top of a mountain on a skiing trip in Trysil, Norway in January 2020, a few weeks after my birthday. We then had the best afternoon skiing down the mountain with the sun setting, having glasses of champagne in a cute little ski lodge and then finishing the day in the hotel’s sauna and spa! We were engaged for two and a bit years before getting married, as we moved our original wedding date a year due to Covid.

Ash bought his Tuxedo in Charles Tyrwhitt. He wasn’t sure what type of suit he wanted to wear on the day but felt best in a tux so that’s when we decided to go black tie. The groomsmen’s tuxes were a similar style from M&S, and they wore navy silk bow ties to match the bridesmaid dresses.

After the ceremony, we all got on classic London buses by Alpha Buses, (with tinnies and snacks, in paper bags with our cats face on!) to take us to The Savile Club. Our bridesmaids, groomsmen and family friends had organised ‘bus karaoke’ with printed out lyric sheets which was definitely a highlight of the day!

Reception

Overall, we loved the idea of having a fancy wedding aesthetic but a fun and joyous atmosphere. We were really keen on seeing our friends and family looking their best so we encouraged a black tie dress code and fascinators. I wanted the reception to feel like a big, opulent party from a bygone era and the Savile Club was perfect for that. We wanted colourful flowers as it was springtime, and simple, classic, black and white stationery to not draw attention away from them.

We loved the Savile Club when searching for venues as it’s so beautifully opulent but also a great party venue, as you can hire the whole place including all of the hotel rooms. It also has a roof terrace which was perfect for the drinks reception for when we arrived, and because it’s a members club the food and wine is great value.

Everyone who works there is absolutely incredible – from Patrizia, the Head of Events, who helped us organise everything before the wedding, Michael their Michelin-starred chef who created an amazing gluten free meal for us and Luca, the Maitre D’ who made sure everything ran smoothly on the day. Everything went totally to plan and it was thanks to them!

On Love My Dress

I visited Love My Dress for wedding inspiration, especially loved the real wedding photos which gave us inspiration for the look and feel of the day.

It was also super helpful during Covid when we were worrying about what our day would look like, having a community of people in the same boat (and seeing the beautiful Covid weddings) made us feel a lot better.

I absolutely loved the real weddings on the site and the ability to look for suppliers both from the weddings and on the directory.

I found the words of advice from other brides really helpful, which ended up being behind some of the decisions we made – such as getting one big floral display instead of lots of little ones, and taking ten minutes to ourselves during the drinks reception.

Evening & Dancing

After getting married in London, the other part of the day we knew we wanted as soon as we got engaged was having a German Brass band. At Loughborough where we met, there’s a German night during freshers which is iconic and every Christmas we’ve made a tradition of going with a big group of friends to Katzenjammers, the German beer hall in Borough. We found Hosen Brass after Googling around and it turns out they play both at Loughborough German night AND Katzenjammers so it was meant to be.

We also booked Tom from Smash the Dancefloor as our DJ to play after the band finished – we found him because he specialises in old school indie music. He really got the party started, getting everyone dancing and was also such a friendly guy to have around on the day.

We chose ‘Reet Petit’ by Jackie Wilson as it was my parent’s first dance song too – they’ve been together for 35 years so we’re hoping it’s a good luck charm. It’s also very upbeat so it helped getting the party started, and Rafal from Janko Films used it for our wedding highlights video which works really well.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

I think the only thing I would have changed was to take my veil off slightly earlier for photos, as I absolutely loved the back of my dress and wish I’d showed it off more.

Our original budget was £25k and we ended up spending around £30k – we did decide to upgrade a few things after postponing though (and we had an extra year to save), so we definitely don’t regret it.

My advice would be to pack in as many personal bits to you as a couple as possible, they were the highlight of our, and our guests, day.

I would also say everything was so much easier to keep organised with a beast of a wedding spreadsheet. Ours had so many tabs on, including the budget, the guest list and addresses, supplier contacts, the order of the day, the table plan and hotel rooms with who was staying and more!! I would also recommend meeting up with a couple of your most organised bridesmaids/groomsmen beforehand, and relaying all the key info of the day so they can manage everything on your wedding day. It took away a lot of stress on the day knowing that other people were managing the timelines, suppliers and odd jobs.

I’d also recommend doing a speech, I loved doing it. If you’re not a confident speaker then potentially think about asking your mum/maid of honour/bridesmaid to do one – I really feel like it makes a difference having women up there with all the men!

I think finally, trust your suppliers. You’ve booked them because you love their work and because of that I don’t think you need to worry about (or try and micromanage) the aspects that they are going to deliver for you.

lukebellphotography.co.uk

Credits & Thanks

Annabel View all Annabel’s articles

Annabel is the founder of Love My Dress. She has a passion for photography, walking, yoga, nature, and loves to support talented artists and creative businesses. In 2013, she became a published author. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters Eska and Leanora and menagerie of furry hounds. Annabel supports Philip in the running of the family flower farm at at Moonwind Flowers. She is also co-founder of What About Weddings.

This article was originally published by Lovemydress.net. Read the original article here.